Norchester - A Mass Blot on the Landscape

I am writing regarding the controversial proposed development to the north of Dorchester. which will stretch from Charminster across arable fields to where Hardy's heart is buried with his two wives at Stinsford Parish. The site is one of significant heritage and the environment must be protected at all costs from this act of `cultural vandalism' and violation of the land. Of course, it is key to acknowledge that housing and especially low-cost housing is important and this letter is not an issue of nimbyism. However, building a mass development of 3.750 houses, larger than Poundbury is not the answer.

Furthermore, after attending the consultation event at the United Church, the following statement was made on the invitation flyer, "A garden community is a sustainable, well-designed development that balances the need for new homes with nature". Arguably, the irony of this declarative is that the development will be a `concrete jungle' built on agricultural and fertile land. We already have green spaces aplenty, which are of national and international significance as a heritage asset. The location of the proposed development is inappropriate and I'm sure that other sites could be considered.

Moreover, the writer Thomas Hardy used Dorchester as a setting for The Mayor of Casterbridge in 1886 and he described it thus "it stood with the land adjoining, clean-cut and distinct, like a chessboard on a green tablecloth - it was compact as a box of dominoes and untouched by the faintest sprinkle of modernism - it had not suburbs in the ordinary sense'.

I would like to suggest that Poundbury is now our suburb and this proposed development will be larger than the estate owned by the Duchy of Cornwall (which, as an aside, is still being developed). How will this new `garden community' enhance the character of Dorchester and where is the infrastructure for this possible blot on the landscape.

With our NHS bursting at the seams and our GP surgeries inundated, alongside the traffic within the town adding vastly to pollution, how one might ask will this development survive?

Dorchester has many brownfield sites that could be used for housing, including the flats above shops in South Street, Trinity Street, High West and East Streets. How many of these have been considered by Dorset Council, who are obviously succumbing to the targets set by the Government.

Finally, the proposed development is to be created on ancient water meadows and floodplains - to build on this sacred land would be pure sacrilege. Tourism in the town relies on our links with Hardy. Indeed, the river walk and land features in Hardy's short story "The Withered Arm". As a man who `used to notice such things' and as a conservationist and protector of the land, what would Hardy have thought of this proposal? Would his "Pair of Blue Eyes" not have a tear in them at the thought of such a vast increase in the town? Jude would be even more Obscure at the thought of a vast increase in the demographic of Wessex. Ultimately, Dorchester is "Far from the Madding Crowd" and that is where we want it to stay.

Mark Damon Chutter

Chairman & Academic Director

The Thomas Hardy Society

STAND

Dorchester